Apparatus for granulating clay.



F. LAMBERT.

APPARATUS FOR GRANULATING CLAY.

APPLICATION FILED 00125, 1911.

Patented Sept. 16, 1913.

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FRANK LAMBE R T, 0 13 To all coho-met may omweqmr."

Be it known that. :13, FRANK LAWIBER'II, a: citizen of the nited 1States, residing at Ghicage, in the county zof Cook .L-State of;Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements inApparatusfor Granulating' Clay, of which the following is specification.Hlhe :principad objiect ofmy invention is to 1 provide an improvementinaapparatus for} gmainulating clay ito rpreparezit f'nr'zthe Inanu- 1facture of bricks :onothemarticles.

v.rhrotherobject ef my invention is to jpro-= vide :an improved clayknife to be used in; connection with apparatus. for gran'ulating cla v Still another object of my invention is to provide a clay knife thatshall reduce to a stonesin the cla'y.

These and other =ohjects and advantages off my inventionwild he rmadeapparent the following sp eoification and claims, taken iniconnection.with the accompanying drawings V :Eor the purpose of clearly explainingmy invention and its utility, :I have illustrated one specificembodiment thereof in the .accompanying drawings, l and Isnow proceed todescribe the same.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a clay grannlator with which myimproved knife Linayibe employedfl :Fig..:2 a transverse (section ofthessa-me on line 22 of Fig. l. ell ligi 3 %is' elevation of one ofthelkniivres with across section-"of the shaft in whieh it isinrountedt.4e is a fragmentary longitudinal section ofthe :shaft with an edgeelevatien eof 'one of :the knives mounted -0Di2tll9 shaft; and Fig. i5is perspective view of the knife and associated elements spaced 'ap artslightly.

The clay granulator comprises a hopper 15 with downwardlymonuerging sidewalls, and at the bottom thereof iis :"a trough 16; the lower part ofwhich is of semi=cylindricall contour. A hewvyshafit :1? lies the axis01fthisEtroughymonntedzin "journal bearin'gs at the ends, so that it isadapted to rotate. This shaft :17 carries knives 1'8 vin sccketsmirranged in a helical course around the sli ht, the knives extending.from the shaft "far enoug'h to alnrosttouch the bottom of the trough 16.The hopper is bounded :at

V Specification of Lettersiatent.

'- Anplication filed 0ctoberfl25, 191 1.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS 'FOR GRLANULATING CLAY.

Patented'Sept. is, 1913. Serial No. 656, 5'79. 7

; the right-es viewed in Fig. 1h-y an end wall 19,.ithe lower edge ofwhich is spaced from the ends of the revolving knives just enough togive :a suitable clearance. The trough :16 has an opening at itsend,which is designated as 2.0. The blades l8pare set u-niformlyatzaslight'inclination from planes perpendicular to the axis of the shaft17,

:s'o in revolving they not only cut the clay but advance it slowly alongthe trough to the :right.

It will he observed that the planes of the "knives cut across the helixdrawn on the :surface "of' the shaft 17 through the successive-socketsfitherein. This arrangement in- :sures that the entire body of clay willnot he :simply screwed forward in the bottom of the-trough 16, but thatit will be chopped at 'theseme'time that it is advanced to the rightalong -theitrough 16 as viewed in Fig. 1. As

will be readily understood the :device :is fed by dumping clay into thehopper '15 this clay :is granulated and moved along the trough 16,:arnddischarges through the openr ing20,

dianIeterL-and in these the kinives are mounted. Adjacent toeach socketthere is a slot 22, which sissa ikeyway, anda wedge key can be driven inthis slot :to hold the knife in place. :Eachsocket 21has an extensionhole 23 cit reduced size which goes diametrically throughthe shaft 17.The purpose of this extension hole 23 is Eto'permit introducing a punchso that the knife can he driven out when 'desired, as for-example, whena knife is wvorn ent and must be replaced by a new one.

aEach knife comprises :a blade 25 :and a stern or sl1ank24 adapted to goin the socket 21 This blade has its cutting edge at 26, the opposite:edge being much thicker so as to give the requisite istrength toutheknife. The-:outtingiedge 26 of the-knife extends in a =direction=that:is approximately radial to the shaft 17, and hence at any instant theedge of the knife is substantially at a right angle to its directionofmovement. It accordingly follows-that the knife tends to out directlyinto masses of relay which it meets ward zthei'end of the knife than itwould haveiif :the edge -of the knife was inclined stone acting againstthe knife in a direction opposite to the arrow 28 will pull the shank 24out of its socket in a radial direction, as indicated by the dottedlines in Fig.

'3. As the shank 24 moves radially out of its socket, it carries the key22 with it and thus the shank 24 is instantly loosened in its socket 21.Thereafter the attendant can quickly replace the knife securing it inplace by means of the key 22. Sometimes the I shank 24 may be bent alittle in withdrawing it'as just described, but if this is the case, itcan be taken to an anvil and readily straightened.

The side of the hopper 15 toward which the knives 18 revolve isdesignated 15 in Fig. 2, and it has a slight overhang 15". This preventsthe clay from banking up on this side of the hopper as it wouldotherwise have a tendency to do.

With knives not havlng the heel or fulcrum 27 at a suitable distancebehind the shank, a great many are broken by striking against stones inthe clay. Usually they break off close to the surface of the shaft 17leaving the stub shank 24 tight in its socket 21. It is then necessaryfor the attendant to turn the shaft over and by means of a punch,introduced through the hole 23, drive out the stub shank, then rotatethe shaft so as to make the socket 21 accessible, and put a new knife inplace. By my improvement not only are the knives kept from being brokenin most instances, but less time is required to replace a knife, becausewith my improved blades there are no stub shanks to be punched outbefore the blade is reset.

There may be occasions when it will be desired to remove a knife thathas not been loosened in use, as, for example, when its edge has becomedulled by a long continued use. Such a knife should be removed in orderto be sharpened. For this purpose the holes 28 will be found useful. Apunch can be passed through the proper hole 23 and by driving on the endthe shank 24 can be punched out of the socket 21.

It will be seen that I have provided an 7 improved combination ofelements bywhich the blade acts directly at right angles to its edgeupon the clay, and is thus more effective than blades whose direction ofmotion is not at right angles to the edge. Another advantage of myimproved blade is that when it comes in contact with stones it pulls outinstead of breaking, and thus the expense of mending broken blades orrenewing them is avoided. Another advantage is that it takes much lesstime to replace a. blade that has pulled out than it does to remove the.remnant of a broken blade and replace a new'one.

It will be observed that it is an essential feature of my device thatthe connection of the knife to the shaft shall be detachable or suchthat while moderate forces will not displace the knife with relation toits shaft, nevertheless forces of considerable magnitude actingoutwardly on the shank of the knife in a radialdirection will detach it.Hence I must have what I call a detachable or yielding fastening orconnection. It will also be seen that it is a feature'of my invention tohave two connections between the entire knife and the main shaft. One ofthese connections consists in fastening the shaft of the knife into thesocket in the shaft. The other connection consists of'having the heel ofthe knife rest against the shaft. This latter connection may be termed athrust connection, because it is functional onlyto resist a thrust,.inother. words, it is not a connection'that ties the parts together.

I claim: i

, 1. In a device of the class described, a shaft having a radial sockettherein, in combination with a knife having a shank fitting in saidsocket, said knife also having a heel in contactwith the shaft at apoint back of the edge of the knife, the distance of said point ofcontact of the heel with the shaft from the said shank being greaterthan the diameter of the shank, and wedg ing fastening means besidesaidshank.

2. In a device of the class described, a shaft having a radial sockettherein, in combination with a knife having a shank fitting in saidsocket, andyielding wedging. means fastening the said'knife in saidsocket, said knife also having a heel in contact with the shaft at apoint behind the-socket and behind the edge of said knife;

8. In a device of the class described, a shaft having a radial socket,in combination with a clay knife having a shank in said socket, meansfor securing said shank in said socket, said clay knife having its cut-Iting edge approximately on a radial line through the said socket andhaving a backto yield without rupture to an excessive force appliedradially to said knifeand aid knife also having a thrust bearing withthe shaft at a point opposite its cutting edge.

5. In a device of the class described, a shaft having a radial sockettherein, in combination with a knife having a shank fitting in saidsocket, said knife also having a heel in contact with the shaft at apoint on the opposite side of the socket with respect to the side towhich the edge of the knife is directed, said shaft having a keywaytherein beside said socket, and a key in said keyway, the face of thekey away from the shank and the side of the shank opposite the keydiverging outwardly from the shaft.

6. In a device of the class described, a

shaft having a radial socket therein, in

socket from the direction in which the edge of the knife is directed.

7. In a device of the class described, a shaft having a radial sockettherein, in combination with a knife having a shank fitting in saidsocket, andwedgin means beside said shank fastening it in saiil saidknife also having a heel in contact with the shaft at a point behind thesocket with respect to the direct-ion of rotation of the shaft, saidwedging means being adapted to become detached by a radial pulloutwardly on said shank.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name.

FRANK LAMBERT.

Witnesses:

HENRY A. PARKS, ANNA L. WALTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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